Posts Tagged ‘Dr. James Andrews’

March 31, 2014 · 3:13PM

By Fran Blinebury, NBA.com

HOUSTON –Prior to Saturday night’s game against the Clippers, Pat Beverley said if the medical staff would let him just slip a protective brace onto his injured right knee, he would have been back in the Rockets’ lineup.

That time might now be closer than originally thought.

Following an examination by renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews, the word is that Beverley will be able to avoid surgery for the torn meniscus and be able to return to the court after several weeks of rehab.

When Beverley suffered the injury on Thursday, it initially was thought that he was lost for the season, which would have been a significant blow since he brings critical aggressiveness and defense to the Rockets’ starting lineup.

However, following another MRI and an exam at his office in Alabama, Andrews determined that Beverley will be able to work his way back through a rehab regimen. He is expected to be sidelined for at least another week. Exactly when Beverley returns will depend on the pace of his rehab progress.

God is the only 1 that could have made this possible. Praises to him. Thank u so much. No needle. (Knock on Wood) #RedNation#Wolverine

Beverly had said on Saturday that the swelling already had gone down in his knee and he was feeling no pain.

“It’s always a great thing,” Beverley said. “No swelling is a great thing. It wasn’t in the same area where a lot of players tore their meniscus at. It’s a pretty solid area. I feel pretty confident about it.”

The Rockets had their five-game winning streak snapped by the Clippers with Jeremy Lin replacing Beverley in the starting lineup. Beverley is averaging 9.9 points through 53 games this season.

September 17, 2013 · 12:10PM

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HANG TIME SOUTHWEST — Imagine all those staunch Sixers fans falling for a skinny Boston kid raised four miles from the enemy Celtics’ home court.

Get ready, Philly, here comes Nerlens Noel.

Maybe a love affair rising from the failed ashes of Andrew Bynumisn’t so far-fetched. After all, Noel’s outdated box-top hair-do is inspired by his fave entertainer, Philadelphia’s own Will Smith from his days as the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air”.

“Everything’s for a reason,” the 76ers rookie center told NBA.com last week, referring to the ACL tear in his left knee that derailed his near-certain path to becoming the No. 1 pick.

“I definitely feel the injury is a blessing in disguise, and I feel that Philly is perfect as to my style, and definitely my playing style. I’m just always playing hard, working for everything and, of course, the city of Philadelphia itself having the die-hard fans they do and just being a blue-collar city.”

When the home fans will get their first look at the one-year Kentucky wonder remains uncertain.

Noel’s relentless recovery is ongoing. The devastating injury occurred on Feb. 12 in just his 24th collegiate game, the result of a hustle play the Wildcats’ center didn’t have to attack. He could have surrendered the breakaway layup against against rival Florida. He sprinted, closed the gap, leaped and swatted the ball away from behind. His 106th block had him on pace to threaten 2012 No. 1 pick Anthony Davis‘ school-record from the season before. Noel crashed to the floor and didn’t get up.

More than four months later at the NBA Draft, Noel waited. He slid from No. 1 to No. 6.

“I don’t regret making that play,” Noel said. “I definitely wanted to put my team in the best position to win and I’m not mad at myself for making that play. That’s just who I am.”

Since undergoing surgery on March 12, and up until just last week, the 19-year-old Noel slept, ate and rehabbed in Birmingham, Ala., punching work-week-like hours to rebuild his knee under the supervision of renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews and esteemed physical therapist Kevin Wilk. He’s finally seeing evidence of all that hard work.

“I feel great. I’m really starting to feel like my old self, being able to have my explosiveness. But I’m definitely being careful with it,” Noel said. “From Day 1, every time I was in rehab, the last few reps, I would just think how bad I want to get on the court because of how much I want to prove to myself that I can get back and be the player I want to be.”

NBA training camps open in about two weeks, but it will still take time before Noel can get down to serious preparations with Philly. He began with baby steps back on the court about two months ago, but contact team drills will be off limits, and a debut date is not yet being discussed, at least not publicly. He has always hoped to play by Christmas.

“I want to be 100 percent confident not only physically, but mentally coming back from it,” Noel said.

He’s only now getting to know the city, having moved to Philadelphia about 10 days ago. He dropped off some boxes there, then he traveled to Lexington to attend a Wildcats alumni game and then to Los Angeles for a Reebok photo shoot, where he revealed the company will encourage his retro “Fresh Prince” fashion sense. Moving to Philly earlier in the summer wasn’t really an option. He and the Sixers’ No. 11 pick, Michael Carter-Williams, remain the only first-round picks yet to sign their rookie contracts.

Salaries for first-round picks are slotted, so there’s no contract dispute here. The bottomed-out, 76ers, now under the guidance of general manager Sam Hinkie, are conserving cap space as they slowly fill out the roster. Then they’ll ink their draft picks. Unsigned players are prohibited from using team facilities and working with training and coaching staffs.

“It’s not too disappointing. I’m definitely working as much as I can and staying focused. That will come,” Noel said. “They’re making strategic moves right now so I definitely understand, but that’s not stopping me from rehabbing and getting back to where I want to be.”

Hinkie has a vision of where that one day will be. He traded All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday to New Orleans to make Noel the centerpiece of his rebuild. Listed at 6-foot-10 at Kentucky, Noel measured 6-foot-11 3/4 with shoes at the Draft Combine in May. His several-inches-high flat-top reminds of the classic line uttered by the late Chick Hearn in the movie “Fletch:”He’s actually 6-5, with the afro 6-9.” Noel might actually top 7-foot.

His hair even has its own Twitter account (@NoelsFlatTop). Among its more than 2,700 followers is Noel, who doesn’t know who started the account when he was a top recruit.

Noel’s height, with or without the flat-top, is of lesser concern than filling out his long slender frame that’s equipped with a 7-foot-4 wing span. Noel weighed 216 pounds as a freshman and dropped to 206 post-surgery, a weight that could never survive in the NBA trenches. He’s up to 221 and wants to get close to 230 by the time he plays in an NBA game.

As he gets older, he knows he’ll have to continually get stronger to bang with the East’s big boys such as the Pacers’ 7-foot-2, 280-pound center Roy Hibbbert. Noel said he’s already enlisted Hibbert, who has his own array of old-school post moves, to aid his low-post development. That is an aspect of Noel’s game that barely exists at the moment, and some question if it ever will.

Noel averaged 10.5 ppg at Kentucky mostly off dunks, but he said he’s capable of becoming a steady offensive weapon in the NBA.

“Especially with my work ethic and my focus, I’ll be able to do that,” Noel said. “The things he teaches me, mix it with my mobility, add a little flavor to it, I can develop an offensive game.”

First things first, and that’s regaining full strength in his knee. But don’t worry Philly, the Boston kid is on his way.

November 7, 2012 · 11:30AM

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HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Whatever plans Danny Granger had for the 2012-13 season will have to wait until the 2013 portion of the schedule.

The Indiana Pacers’ star forward will be out for three months recovering from a procedure on his left knee, the Pacers announced this morning. A Tuesday injection to treat left patellar tendinosis, a procedure performed by Dr. James Andrews, leave Granger with a recovery time estimated at approximately three months.

That means the Pacers, who play the Hawks tonight in Atlanta at Philips Arena, will be without their scoring (18.3 points) and steals (1.6) leader from last season’s team that pushed the eventual champion Miami Heat to the brink in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Pacers have started Gerald Green (three games) and Sam Young (one game) at small forward in Granger’s absence and will have to continue to do so for at least the next three months or so, depending on how quickly he returns from the procedure.

The Hang Time crew had eyeballs on every game on the schedule, just as we always do, especially on a Wednesday night.

So the only question left to ask you is, Did You See What We Saw?

Check out our rundown of the all 12 games and let us know if you agree or disagree:

Looking good: Who says the Hawks can’t survive without Joe Johnson, who is out 4 to 6 weeks with an elbow injury that will require a surgical procedure from Dr. James Andrews to fix the problem? They did just fine without him in this win over the Hang Time Grizzlies. The Hawks piled up a season-high 33 assists (on 42 made field goals) without Johnson in the mix. It’s the best Larry Drew‘s movement-based offense has looked this season.

Sound the Alarm: Whatever experiment our Grizzlies are conducting at shooting guard needs to stop. Rookie Xavier Henry got the start against the Hawks and O.J. Mayo finished with 10 points off the bench. But their combined work didn’t come close to matching the 25 points and 10 assists the Hawks got from Mo Evans and Jamal Crawford.

HT’s Take: All that chatter about Jeff Teague snatching Mike Bibby‘s starting job has vanished in just one month of the season. Bibby was clutch in the win over the Grizzlies, nailing four of his five shots from beyond the 3-point line. Without Johnson for the next month or so, the Hawks are going to need more big games from Bibby, Crawford, Evans, Teague and rookie Jordan Crawford.

***

Looking good: Nets point guard Jordan Farmar will have to wait a while longer to get the shine he deserves, because as good as his 28-point, nine-assist night was, it wasn’t nearly as wicked as the performance Russell Westbrook had. Westbrook scored all 13 of the Thunder’s points in the third overtime and finished his night with 38 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists. If Westbrook keeps this up, the Thunder will have to make room for two names (Kevin Durant and Westbrook) on the marquee. And I want to see the Western Conference coach brave enough to leave Westbrook off of the All-Star team.

Sound the Alarm: Despite the fireworks, this wasn’t an instant classic. Neither team played well before halftime and it did take them three overtimes to pile up 223 total points. That’s what happens when both teams are missing their catalysts (both Durant and Nets point guard Devin Harris were in street clothes). The injury concerns for both of those guys will have a serious impact on their respective teams if they persist.

HT’s Take: We hear all the complaints about the Thunder being overhyped and not really ready for prime time, yet they keep finding ways to win games, with and without Durant in uniform. They have the same record as the Los Angeles Lakers, so they can’t be too far off the pace. We predicted the Thunder would be among the top two in the West when it was all said and done and we’re not ready to toss that out just yet. We still believe they have the potential to chase that spot.

***

BOSTON 99, PORTLAND 95

Looking good: Raise your hand if you thought the Celtics’ Big 3 would still be going strong like this 200 games deep into this experiment. We certainly can’t make that claim. But the Celtics continue to defy all of the rules of age by continually waxing the opposition. It certainly helps when Paul Pierce is dialed in the way he was against the Trail Blazers — he torched them for 28 points (including a 4-for-5 showing from long distance).

December 1, 2010 · 8:10PM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Hawks All-Star and captain Joe Johnson will miss the next four to six weeks recovering from right elbow surgery, the Hawks announced before Wednesday’s game against the Hang Time Grizzlies at Philips Arena.

Johnson had an MRI Tuesday afternoon and visited with Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham earlier this morning and it was determined that Johnson had “loose body” in the elbow. He’ll have the arthroscopic procedure in the “next few days,” a procedure Andrews will perform.

The injury helps explains the curious start to Johnson’s season. He’s shooting a career-low 41 percent from the floor and averaging just 17.1 points, his lowest totals in both categories since joining the Hawks before the start of the 2005-06 season.

Johnson is still the Hawks’ leading scorer, so his loss will be a major blow for a team that has two other captains (Al Hoford and Josh Smith) playing at an All-Star level. They also have the reigning Sixth Man Award winner in Jamal Crawford to turn to in a pinch, though veteran swingman Mo Evans started in Johnson’s place Thursday night.

Johnson signed the biggest deal ($124 million) of the famed Free Agent Summer of 2010. Hawks fans wondered what their team might look like without him before he signed that deal. They’ll have at least to month see exactly what it looks like now.